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“Brimming with memorable characters, this colour

“Brimming with memorable characters, this colourful reimagining of the early history of Singapore restores William Farquhar – long eclipsed by Raffles – to his rightful position at the forefront of the founding of the colonial settlement, and brings the intrigues, personality clashes and violence of the era vividly to life.” Tim Hannigan, author of Raffles and the British Invasion of Java

Set against the expansion of Singapore in the years 1834-1854, Chasing the Dragon (Singapore Saga, Vol. 2) continues to vividly portray the lives of the early pioneers of the expanding port city, including Joseph Balestier, Seah Eu Chin, Captain Henry Keppel, Tan Tock Seng, Munshi Abdullah, Governor Butterworth and Whampoa as well as fictional characters who bring nineteenth-century Singapore to life.
Duncan Simpson comes to manhood when he joins James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak, on his expeditions against the piratical Borneo Dayaks; an Indian cattleman turns to tiger hunting when his herd is decimated by disease; a Malay magician conjures up magic spells to capture the love of a woman and destroy her husband; a Chinese mother is haunted by the ghostly cries of her abandoned child; a mesmerist performs a dangerous surgery; and Chinese secret society gangs murder Christian farmers in the interior of the island.

As the troop ships of the British Expeditionary Force assemble in Singapore in preparation for the First Opium War, Hong Xiuquan has a dream that will launch the Taiping Rebellion in China, taking the lives of twenty million and powerfully impacting the fortunes of the new citizens of Singapore.

Chasing the Dragon is volume two in the Singapore Saga, a series of historical fiction that spans the first 100 years of Singapore, and follows Forbidden Hill.

Vol.1: Forbidden Hill
Vol.2: Chasing the Dragon
Vol.3: Hungry Ghosts

Paperback and ebook available from leading bookstores in Singapore, SE Asia, UK, Australia and North America.

Also available from the publisher
£8.99 (20% discount for 3 books)
www.monsoonbooks.co.uk
Free UK delivery
Worldwide postage £7 per book

#singapore #singaporehistory #singaporetravel #singaporeliterature #singaporebooks #singapore

“100 years of early Singapore in new fiction ser

“100 years of early Singapore in new fiction series.” Straits Times, Singapore

On 6 February 1819, Stamford Raffles, William Farquhar, Temenggong Abdul Rahman and Sultan Hussein signed a treaty that granted the British East India Company the right to establish a trading settlement on the sparsely populated island of Singapore.

Forbidden Hill (Singapore Saga, Vol. 1) is a meticulously researched and vividly imagined historical narrative that brings to life the stories of the early European, Malay, Chinese and Indian pioneers – the administrators, merchants, policemen, boatmen, coolies, concubines, slaves and secret society soldiers – whose vision and intrigues drive the rapid expansion of the port city in the early decades of the nineteenth century. While Raffles and Farquhar clash over the administration of the settlement, theScottish merchant adventurer Ronnie Simpson and Englishwoman Sarah Hemmings find love and redemption as they battle an American duelist and Illanun pirates. As the ghosts of the rajahs of the ancient city of Singapura fade into the shadows of Forbidden Hill, the new settlers forge their linked destinies in the ‘emporium of the Eastern seas’.

Vol.1: Forbidden Hill
Vol.2: Chasing the Dragon
Vol.3: Hungry Ghosts

Paperback and ebook available from leading bookstores in Singapore, SE Asia, UK, Australia and North America.

Also available from the publisher
£8.99 (20% discount for 3 books)
www.monsoonbooks.co.uk
Free UK delivery
Worldwide postage £7 per book

#singapore #singaporehistory #singaporetravel #singaporeliterature #singaporebooks #singaporearchitecture

‘Tough issues explored with pinpoint accuracy ..

‘Tough issues explored with pinpoint accuracy ... erudite in its exploration of unusually difficult issues and ideas,’ writes journalist Robert Forster of ‘Death of a Coast Watcher’ by Anthony English in ‘PNG Attitude’. ‘[The author’s] greatest achievement is to have sat convincingly inside the heads of his principal characters, including the Tolai women, and relayed their most sensitive innermost feeling and thoughts ... Later this year I intend to read his book a second time and digest its many messages at a slower pace. “Death of a Coast Watcher” deserves it.’

Read the full review in ‘PNG Attitude’.

‘Death of a Coast Watcher’ by Anthony English (Monsoon Books, 2020)

Synopsis:
In 1943 on Bougainville Island, New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy — a coast watcher. The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind frayed under the stress of pursuit by soldiers and their hounds.

Rand’s influence transcends his death. For decades he plagues characters who strive to cope with him and one another in New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, Australia and Japan. Who misperceives? Lies? Self-destructs? Suffers? Loves? The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy.

£8.99
www.monsoonbooks.co.uk
Free UK delivery
£7 delivery worldwide

#australianauthor #papuanewguinea #newguinea #historicalfiction #kiribati #japanesebook #warcrimes

20% off the list price when you buy 3 or more book

20% off the list price when you buy 3 or more books!
Discount applied automatically in cart.
FREE UK postage.
International postage £7 per book.
www.monsoonbooks.co.uk

‘As a woman, I found myself totally immersed in

‘As a woman, I found myself totally immersed in this account of the horrors of war, where innocent indigenous women are caught up in its atrocities, demonstrating their strength and resilience … Memories of past events plague the minds of those who have a connection to it, to the point of obsession, as if they are possessed by the ghosts of these characters … An amazing read which delivers a complex tale of the injustices of war and a fight for survival, very close to home.’ Dr Jenny Murray-Jones, Deakin University (excerpt of review on Goodreads)

“Death of a Coast Watcher” by Anthony English

Synopsis:
In 1943 on Bougainville Island, New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy — a coast watcher. The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind frayed under the stress of pursuit by soldiers and their hounds.

Rand’s influence transcends his death. For decades he plagues characters who strive to cope with him and one another in New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, Australia and Japan. Who misperceives? Lies? Self-destructs? Suffers? Loves? The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy.

£8.99
www.monsoonbooks.co.uk
Free UK delivery
£7 delivery worldwide

#australianauthor #papuanewguinea #newguinea #historicalfiction #kiribati #japanesebook #warcrimes

“It’s going to be one of my Top Books for the

“It’s going to be one of my Top Books for the year ... a thought-provoking book ... highly recommended” writes Lisa Hill in her Australian and NZ books blog about “Death of a Coast Watcher” by Australian author Anthony English, historical fiction set in New Guinea, Gilbert Islands, Japan and Australia.

In 1943 on Bougainville Island, New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy — a coast watcher. The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind frayed under the stress of pursuit by soldiers and their hounds.

Rand’s influence transcends his death. For decades he plagues characters who strive to cope with him and one another in New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, Australia and Japan. Who misperceives? Lies? Self-destructs? Suffers? Loves? The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy.

#australianauthor #australianliterature #australianbookstagram #papuanewguinea #gilbertislands #historicalfiction

Top 50 travel guide to Cairo! Posted @withregram

Top 50 travel guide to Cairo!

Posted @withregram • @djcriminal Happy to see my book “Saudi Arabia Undercover” is in the top 50 travel guide books for Cairo and top 100 travel guide books for Bangkok on @amazon : Thanks again for @monsoonbooks for publishing my first novel.

And thanks to all my friends and fellow travelers who have purchased and supported it! It also made top 50 for Saudi Travel guide books but I’ll respectfully suggest not going to KSA and just read my book instead 😉

I’m currently finishing up my next solo album “The smuggler’s Candle” which should be out this summer. Once that project is finished I’ll be starting my next book.

Fun fact: The original title for Saudi Arabia Undercover was “Drinking Behind the Sun”.

#saudiarabiaundercover #harperwalsh #firstbook #travel #travelwriting #gonzojournalism #monsoonbooks #top50 #top100 #asiabooks

Murder in Kelantan. When a dikir barat (western ch

Murder in Kelantan. When a dikir barat (western chant) singer is invited to perform at a circumcision ceremony in a remote coastal village in Kelantan, Malaysia, things take an unexpected turn in the normally quiet fish market. Aunty Maryam is called to investigate a baffling double murder, and the motives must be untangled and the guilty identified. Maryam‘s own life Is in grave danger when she and Mak Cik Rubiah delve deeper into this world of secrets. Join Maryam and Rubiah in their sixth adventure assisting the Kota Bharu Police Department, or vice versa, in Western Chant, the latest in the award-winning Kain Songket Mysteries series. Coming soon to a bookstore near you. #monsoonbooks

Posted @withregram • @thefussyreader After corre

Posted @withregram • @thefussyreader After corresponding with Phil back and forth via email last 2 weeks, i have decided to pick these 2 books in exchange for my review. After all, one could never say NO to free books (especially after Phil already offered books that are written by Non-white authors in accommodating my reading goals this year).
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Thank You @monsoonbooks
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#bibliophilemy #bibliophile #booklover #pencintabuku #pencintabukutegar #bookreader #bookreaders #books #book #malaysiareads #malaysianreads #pembaca #reader #reading #bookjourney #bookstagram #goodreads #malaysianreader #malaysiamembaca #buku #bookislove #bookislife #readingtarget #goodreadschallenge #onlyreaderswillunderstand #bookstorereview #monsoonbooks #monsoonbookstore #ibanwoman #notavirgin

WWII fiction set in Singapore Posted @withregram • @anjanachaudhuri

Colonial Singapore. A love triangle. Will one woman’s jealousy destroy everyone?

It is 1931 in colonial Singapore. A Chinese bondmaid of fifteen stands trial for her aunt’s murder. Mei Mei, born on the inauspicious double seventh day, feels her doomed destiny taking over.

The tide turns. Mei Mei and an English boy, Richard, fall in love. However, British-born Clementine has set her heart on marrying Richard and the social divide between coloniser and native keep the lovers apart.

It is 1942. Japanese bombs are falling over Singapore. Richard rekindles his desperate romance with Mei Mei. To what lengths will Clementine go to separate the lovers? When Mei Mei disappears in the bombing and Richard is injured and loses his memory, is the path finally clear for Clementine to claim Richard as her own?

“New voice of Malaysian fiction“ Posted @withr

“New voice of Malaysian fiction“ Posted @withregram • @kakellereads Yeayy 😍. Received this from #KLBAC friend and hardcore bookworms 😆 because she read more than 100 books a year!

I got this for participating in her giveaway 🤩. I'm so excited!

Thank you so much Catherine Lai 🥰. Can't wait to dig in soon!

#bookworm
#nosuchthingasenoughbooks

Posted @withregram • @theophiluskwek Each new ar

Posted @withregram • @theophiluskwek Each new arrival from @thryft.asia is so beautifully wrapped - I actually saved this one to open today for Maximum Monday Satisfaction 🤭 Fantastic condition for a pre-loved book, and only just released in 2019 by @monsoonbooks! #SEAhistory

Thanks to @transitsanta for featuring Golda Mowe’s “Iban Dream” on International Women’s Day. Golda is the most prolific Iban writer of English-language fiction of her generation and brings to life the adat, customs and folklore of the Iban people of Borneo.

Posted @withregram • @transitsanta HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Here are some books we have in stock for #BONDS. They are all written by women.
We shall try to highlight books written by women this week. Hopefully it’ll go smoothly.

Here’s to women around us, to women who know us, to women within us, to women who raise us. To every woman🥂.
May the world become more just.

#transitsanta #transitbookstore #transit #independentbookstore #tokobukuindie #tokobuku #iwd2021 #internationalwomensday #worldswomenwriters #womenauthors #booksbywomen #readmorewomen #readingwomen #growtogether #diversifyyourbookshelf #bookstagram #bookrecommendations

Posted @withregram • @letmereadthis First #DeepD

Posted @withregram • @letmereadthis First #DeepDiveLSBC experience with the wonderful @literasea.Bookclub folks (in Nov). We discussed Iban Woman by Golda Mowe capturing the Iban people’s experience in Sarawak Malaysia and Borneo. Steeped in Iban culture and spirituality, we follow Ratai, a woman who defies standard conventions. Adept in the domain of hunting and battle, but weak in the traditional “female-dominated” realm of weaving or rice-planting, Ratai faces her own challenges of coming to terms with her natural inclinations. Why was she made this way? Why couldn’t she be “like other people”; people who fit neatly within a pre-confined box?
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On first read, this felt like a conventional narrative of a woman who refused to stick by traditional gender norms. Ratai is loud when femininity is soft, and more comfortable with weapons than she is with weaver’s tools. But this is a false conclusion. We noted an equal weight and importance given to weaving and dyeing versus the skills of war. Both are equally “dangerous and strenuous”, but they are not the same skills. Such a refreshing perspective to a pervasive cultural narrative elsewhere where ‘feminine’ skills are at times perceived as less valuable.
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This isn’t a book I will usually pick up and I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore beyond my comfort zone! I appreciated the rich homage and representation of Iban culture in prose; with a deep emphasis on spirituality, gods and community. I loved the nagayap courtship rituals described in the book - so interesting to see how courtship is done in other cultures beyond our own. Also noteworthy was the practice of bejalai; where an Iban departs their longhouse to acquire knowledge, skills and prestige from the wider world. They then bring it back to their longhouse, which enables them to evolve to adapt to modern culture today. But therein lies the struggle of choosing which cultural elements to preserve and which modern elements to adopt. (Cont in comments) #monsoonbooks

Meet author Sue Paul on Zoom as she talks about re

Meet author Sue Paul on Zoom as she talks about researching the extraordinary life of Captain Thomas Bowrey, a 17th/18th-century maritime trader in Southeast Asia and the author of the first English-Malay dictionary, whose papers lay undisturbed for 200 years.

11.30am (UK) / 7.30pm (Malaysia), Monday 1 March 2021

All welcome. Register at https://tinyurl.com/y9knjw5l

#monsoonbooks #biography #meettheauthor #malaysia #penang #authorevent #malaysianhistory

Posted @withregram • @be_yourshelf Iban Woman ta

Posted @withregram • @be_yourshelf Iban Woman tales the story of a heroine, Ratai, who becomes warrior and headhunter that represents her people and to avenge her loved one. It expands my knowledge on the status of women in the aboriginal group of Iban as this book explores in depth the topic of whether Iban maintains a patriarchal or matriarchal structure in their society.

From what I've observed in this story, men have more say in managing household, hunting and war. Good hunter will be highly respected by their people and shouldered the duty to lead the rest.

On the other hand, the reputation of an Iban woman is built on her skills in planting, weaving as well as whether her suitor continues to court her until they marry. With such interesting premises, the clashes between Ratai's personality as a lover of freedom and the traditional societal Iban values add powerful ambience to the overall story. This plot-driven story reminds me of Mulan to some extent.

I enjoyed the meticulous account of Iban cultures and mythology so much here. It's like the expanded fictionalised story of what I've learned from my highschool textbook. Also, Iban Woman teaches me about a new way to think about feminism. We often see from contemporary social media that the leading women must be strong and women with such personality will be regarded as more superior than the soft feminine females. I think the author observes such a scenario in our society nowadays and put forward a meaningful argument in the thought process of Ratai that both types of women should be deemed as equal and none of them should be deemed as inferior than each other: "She had grown up believing that weaving and planting were inferior to hunting. But now, sitting before the goddess, she realised that her role as a woman was to support life, to grow life. Planting, birthing and weaving were in no way inferior to any other role."

The execution of this story is absorbing and insightful. It is a meaningful novel that provides useful knowledge on the Iban culture. 4.5🌟
#monsoonbooks